jesus farking christ, am I the only one who liked the films? Not to mention how incredible TDK was. Appreciate the guy. Reading this is giving me depth on what he was trying to accomplish, so thank you subby.

thecpt:jesus farking christ, am I the only one who liked the films? Not to mention how incredible TDK was. Appreciate the guy. Reading this is giving me depth on what he was trying to accomplish, so thank you subby.

I'm right here with you. Really enjoyed the films and this interview. I'm surprised by the comments as well.

This Looks Fun:thecpt: jesus farking christ, am I the only one who liked the films? Not to mention how incredible TDK was. Appreciate the guy. Reading this is giving me depth on what he was trying to accomplish, so thank you subby.

I'm right here with you. Really enjoyed the films and this interview. I'm surprised by the comments as well.

Actually, this explanation makes a lot of sense if you look at Batman, ironically, as the force of reason and science. This is an allegory for the development of Christianity.

The crime families before Batman appears: the decaying Roman Empire, a great city turned into chaos and poverty through complacence and corruption.

Ra's al Ghuul: Jesus and the early christian cults. Hidden in the shadows, oppressed, feared, tried to make big changes with the system.

Joker: The Gauls, Saxons, Celts, Franks, and other barbaric, warring tribes with no real binding ethos.

Bane: The Dark Ages and the early Catholic Church. Rigid, devoted to the ideals of the early Christian cults but mutating them to serve their own interests. Pulls enough barbarism of the tribes to bring everyone together and get the power the cults couldn't.

Batman's "death" is the Renaissance, with the elements of the three stages swept away and the city ready to move on to something beyond chaos and faith.

thecpt:jesus farking christ, am I the only one who liked the films? Not to mention how incredible TDK was. Appreciate the guy. Reading this is giving me depth on what he was trying to accomplish, so thank you subby.

Loved the films, but now that they are over, we can pick them apart and explain how WE would have done such a better job. You know, because we are successful writers and directors. We are brilliant.

This Looks Fun:thecpt: jesus farking christ, am I the only one who liked the films? Not to mention how incredible TDK was. Appreciate the guy. Reading this is giving me depth on what he was trying to accomplish, so thank you subby.

I'm right here with you. Really enjoyed the films and this interview. I'm surprised by the comments as well.

Let's not get ahead of ourselves here. The movies are good, but he's no Schumaker. I read a very similar interview with Schumaker and his interpretation of the script, settings, characters, and his methodologies of putting them to film. And, to Schumaker's credit, in his mind there was no other way to capture and potray the souls, the very being of his characters, other than to include nipples and protruding codpieces. Most profound, if you ask me.

I don't know about that. They did have binding ethos. What drove Rome to the Gauls was simple: gold. They loved it. They hoarded it. Caeser was able to convince people to invade based off of it. That kind of works more with Nolan's idea for the third that the dictator would be manipulative in order to get what they want.

You can compare a lot of things to religion though.

I have fun watching the movie with the idea that each one is about a different aspect of the batman universe (such as first one is about making batman, second was about gotham, third was about seperating the bat from everything), but I always try to think of the anarchist joker as the equalizer. Nolan mentions class warfare, but I thought that was more of a central element for Rises than TDK.

MagSeven:Loved the films, but now that they are over, we can pick them apart and explain how WE would have done such a better job. You know, because we are successful writers and directors. We are brilliant.

Whatever. Look, you can slob Nolan's knob all you want, but I find just about all of his movies to be cold, bloodless and full of ideas that sound intriguing at first but turn out to have the depth of a paper bag. Glad you liked his Batman films, I can't wait until a couple years passes and another director gets the nod for a reboot.

I don't know about that. They did have binding ethos. What drove Rome to the Gauls was simple: gold. They loved it. They hoarded it. Caeser was able to convince people to invade based off of it. That kind of works more with Nolan's idea for the third that the dictator would be manipulative in order to get what they want.

I don't think that was really an ethos. Chaos, sacking, domination, disparate tribes warring and trying to take the big power down because the power's presence offends them, I think it fits.

Brakefornobody:This Looks Fun: thecpt: jesus farking christ, am I the only one who liked the films? Not to mention how incredible TDK was. Appreciate the guy. Reading this is giving me depth on what he was trying to accomplish, so thank you subby.

I'm right here with you. Really enjoyed the films and this interview. I'm surprised by the comments as well.

Some people just want to watch the world burn.

I think there's this differential wave event occurring where you have people who seek meaning out of films, music, books or other forms of artificial expression that aren't self-generated encountering a different wave of people who are eschewing "artistic" expression in favor of hands in the dirt, experience driven meaning that are very much self-generated by their endeavors.

I don't think this is a new phenomenon, I think it has occurred with every generation. Now, however, I think the conflict is so much more evident because of the nature of connectivity and instant, expansive communication that we have now.

Is it true that you don't use a second unit director, in effect shooting every frame yourself?

Yeah, I've never used a second unit director. Occasionally, we'd hire a splinter unit for a day or something and splinter off a couple of shots, but I went into Batman Begins saying to the studio, "Look, I don't understand how to peel things away from my script and say these aren't important enough for me to shoot them. Because to me, if they're not important enough for me to shoot them, they shouldn't be in the film in the first place."

theorellior:MagSeven: Loved the films, but now that they are over, we can pick them apart and explain how WE would have done such a better job. You know, because we are successful writers and directors. We are brilliant.

Whatever. Look, you can slob Nolan's knob all you want, but I find just about all of his movies to be cold, bloodless and full of ideas that sound intriguing at first but turn out to have the depth of a paper bag. Glad you liked his Batman films, I can't wait until a couple years passes and another director gets the nod for a reboot.

Be careful what you wish for. Most movies are made for kids. The interview itself hints around at Warner Bros. wanting more/bigger. That Nolan had the spine to maintain his scale is a testament to him and a warning to the next group that takes on these kinds of action films.

Nana's Vibrator:Be careful what you wish for. Most movies are made for kids. The interview itself hints around at Warner Bros. wanting more/bigger. That Nolan had the spine to maintain his scale is a testament to him and a warning to the next group that takes on these kinds of action films.

Batman *is* a kid's movie, basically live-action of the wish-fulfillment that gets teenage boys through their crappy days. There's nothing wrong with that, and it can be very enjoyable. But dressing these things up in gritty dark Philosophy 101 retreads is dumb and annoying.

Decillion:theorellior: moothemagiccow: Maybe he can explain why the climaxes were so contrived

Oh, come on, killer steam is an awesome way to cap off a superhero romp!

Hmmm, each ending involved a bomb of some kind. Therefore with deep analysis we can surmise that either Nolan really likes bombs or lost interest before he finished each movie.

The first one I didn't really have any qualms with. The climax had been built from the beginning and made sense, except for letting Ra's die. Batman could've easily done the same to the Joker. Also he straight up murdered two-face.

The second one was great but the fact that the Joker got the prisoners and the citizens on separate ferries made no sense. Maybe that was just an added bonus that Gordon provided with zero justification.

The last one's ending went just a little too far. Bane's got a nuke and is holding Gotham hostage, and there's only one dude who can rally people into fighting back?

thecpt:jesus farking christ, am I the only one who liked the films? Not to mention how incredible TDK was. Appreciate the guy. Reading this is giving me depth on what he was trying to accomplish, so thank you subby.

Yes. This is Fark. Every neckbeard with failed dreams has at least six better screenplays, right over there, under the cheesey poofs.

un4gvn666:Is it true that you don't use a second unit director, in effect shooting every frame yourself?

Yeah, I've never used a second unit director. Occasionally, we'd hire a splinter unit for a day or something and splinter off a couple of shots, but I went into Batman Begins saying to the studio, "Look, I don't understand how to peel things away from my script and say these aren't important enough for me to shoot them. Because to me, if they're not important enough for me to shoot them, they shouldn't be in the film in the first place."

I farking love this guy's philosophy.

Yeah, I was impressed by that too.

I don't always agree with Nolan's choices (letting Bale do the Bat Voice was dumb), but I really can't say there's much in terms of wasted screen time in his movies. And that's despite being pretty farking long movies.

MagSeven:thecpt: jesus farking christ, am I the only one who liked the films? Not to mention how incredible TDK was. Appreciate the guy. Reading this is giving me depth on what he was trying to accomplish, so thank you subby.

Loved the films, but now that they are over, we can pick them apart and explain how WE would have done such a better job. You know, because we are successful writers and directors. We are brilliant.

You seem to not understand the purpose of discussion forums. They are here so we can kill time during work and be advertised to.

If someone can do better than Nolan, that's good. Art is not a progression towards an ideal followed by mass suicide because no one can ever improve it.

Pontious Pilates:Yes. This is Fark. Every neckbeard with failed dreams has at least six better screenplays, right over there, under the cheesey poofs.

Bravo. These films elevated comic book movies tremendously. Even recent ones, like Fantastic Four and that era, were pretty decent for their time, but look not so great compared to the Nolan films and the improvements he competitively-forced on Marvel Studios.

My only problem with TDKR is that the city was on total lockdown, but when Batman escaped from the prison, they showed him walking back into the city via a bridge. The only bridge was barricaded by the national guard IIRC.

Detinwolf:My only problem with TDKR is that the city was on total lockdown, but when Batman escaped from the prison, they showed him walking back into the city via a bridge. The only bridge was barricaded by the national guard IIRC.

thecpt:jesus farking christ, am I the only one who liked the films? Not to mention how incredible TDK was. Appreciate the guy. Reading this is giving me depth on what he was trying to accomplish, so thank you subby.

No kidding. I enjoyed all 3 movies. TDK the most, but all 3 are re-watchable.

moothemagiccow:MagSeven: thecpt: jesus farking christ, am I the only one who liked the films? Not to mention how incredible TDK was. Appreciate the guy. Reading this is giving me depth on what he was trying to accomplish, so thank you subby.

Loved the films, but now that they are over, we can pick them apart and explain how WE would have done such a better job. You know, because we are successful writers and directors. We are brilliant.

You seem to not understand the purpose of discussion forums. They are here so we can kill time during work and be advertised to.

If someone can do better than Nolan, that's good. Art is not a progression towards an ideal followed by mass suicide because no one can ever improve it.

//your favorite thing sucks

I understand forums. Just at many of the forums I've been at (actually not this one, I didn't get into too many Batman Begins/DK threads here), people thought this man could do no wrong, then a year after it's been out have completely 180'd their positions on each film. It amuses me. Like I said, I like the movies. Yeah there's a plot-hole or two, but I enjoyed myself. They're just movies, right?

Detinwolf:My only problem with TDKR is that the city was on total lockdown, but when Batman escaped from the prison, they showed him walking back into the city via a bridge. The only bridge was barricaded by the national guard IIRC.

Can't remember, as I only saw it the one time, but don't we first see Batman back in the city near the "ice walk"?

Strategeryz0r:Detinwolf: My only problem with TDKR is that the city was on total lockdown, but when Batman escaped from the prison, they showed him walking back into the city via a bridge. The only bridge was barricaded by the national guard IIRC.

Well... he IS the goddamn Batman

Yep. Guy's a ninja billionaire who thrives on misdirection and wears two personas in public.

"But he was broke!" Wrong. He had plenty of secret cash stashed away (every billionaire does), which is what he used to take over Wayne Enterprises in Begins, and that was after being declared dead (which is not easy to come back from on paper).

"But how did he get from the prison to Gotham?" Maybe the same way he got from Gotham to Hong Kong in the prior movie? By maybe tapping secret stashes of money and resources?

"But Gotham was sealed!" Bane's a member of the League of Shadows, which teaches misdirection and theatrics. Was Gotham locked down, or did Bane just say it was? Even if it was, there are multiple ways into and out of a major city that aren't highways or bridges, especially if, you know, you're a ninja billionaire.

"But everyone will know he survived because he was in the cafe!"

You're telling me he hasn't the resources to change his identity? Or that he's recognized by everyone in a foreign country? That the company he owned, that ousted him and thinks he's dead and is likely being run by a whole new bunch of people because all the other board members are likely dead, is going looking for him instead of rebuilding Gotham? That he couldn't simply tell someone who thinks he's Wayne, "Yeah, I get that a lot"?

(CSB: I saw a guy in college that looked exactly like Freddie Mercury -- not "could be his brother"; I mean, someone plucked him out of the early 80s with a time machine and deposited him in Memphis -- two years after he died.)

I think the thing is that directors, being humans and all, make mistakes, and they usually makes similar mistakes multiple times. Spielberg's bad films always end 30-45 minutes after they should, Scorsese's bad films always double down on a quirky camera gag or cram too much Rolling Stones where it doesn't belong, etc. Nolan has his style, and it works almost all of the time. But Rises definitely showcased his weaknesses more than his talents. In Dark Knight, he stuck to his strengths and minimized his weaknesses, just like any director's great films. But Rises he tried to do too much, and I think he stretched himself thin. He still can't write/direct actresses worth a damn. Ann Hathaway should win an Oscar for making the first interesting female character in a Nolan film since Insomnia.

thecpt:jesus farking christ, am I the only one who liked the films? Not to mention how incredible TDK was. Appreciate the guy. Reading this is giving me depth on what he was trying to accomplish, so thank you subby.

Yeah, I've made jokes about hating the Entertainment tab and this is why. I enjoy it on the whole, but there's a very loud contingent of retards who hate everything mainstream.